Painters tack cloths

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 8:03 pm

Has anybody here had problems with finishing after using painters tack cloths to remove dust from the bare wood?

The french polished finish on an Englemann top I'm working on keeps breaking up into minute sublinear (1-2mm x 0.1mm wide) breaks parallel to the grain of the top. The breaks seem to be concentrated on the darker winter wood. Not sure whats going on but it looks like contamination. Its not silicon as Ive kept the rubber non slip mat away from this guitar. Shellac has been changed and so has olive oil. Before french polishing the wood was sanded back to 320 grit, wiped with Shellite and then had tack cloth run over it.

Cant get the cracks captured very well on the digital camera but will try with a mates high quality SLR.

Kim...didnt you have some fish eye problems with some Englemann recently?

Any ideas Martin

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:13 pm

Sorry Martin can't help mate. My issue was with EIR B/S, the red spruce top was fine. Also the fish-eyes in the EIR were bloody humugus even in neet epoxy. They looked like they had been pulled from a snappers head.

Thank goodness for TruOil

Cheers

Kim

Rick Turner · Post by **Rick Turner** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:17 am

Are you using a stearated sandpaper? The zinc stearate used as a dry sanding lube can interfere with some finishes. Perhaps a wipe-down with mineral spirits after sanding would help.

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:28 am

Thanks Rick...I have seen reference in another forum to contamination via stearated paper. I did actually do a wipe down with naphtha but maybe it wasnt thorough enough.

Cheers Martin

Hesh1956 · Post by **Hesh1956** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:51 pm

Martin my friend some of the painter's tack cloths available in the states do have silicon in them..... I stopped using them because of this and started looking for ones that did not have silicon in them. This included some contact with manufactures and asking questions. What a time sucker and I came up with no "for sure" brand that I thought would be safe to use.

Just a thought.

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 2:18 pm

You can make your own easy enough

http://www.craftsmantooltalk.com/BBS/Wo ... page1.html

http://joneakes.com/cgi-bin/getdetailscals.cgi?id=1137

A bit of old Estipole and turps will do the trick.

If you don't like those links just google "Make your own Tack Rag" or "Cloth" and pick one of your own.

Cheers

Kim

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:02 pm

Hesh1956 wrote:Martin my friend some of the painter's tack cloths available in the states do have silicon in them..... I stopped using them because of this and started looking for ones that did not have silicon in them. This included some contact with manufactures and asking questions. What a time sucker and I came up with no "for sure" brand that I thought would be safe to use.

Just a thought.

Hesh, thanks for the info mate. The tack cloths are an American brand (Gerson). Nothing on the packet to say they DONT have silicon.

Im using garnet paper on the next instrument and will avoid the tack cloth.

Hesh1956 · Post by **Hesh1956** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:46 am

Martin that is what I ran into also - the labels won't tell you what the cloths have been treated with if anything. Tack cloths are often treated and that is part of the reason why they call them tack cloths. Kim nailed it, make your own and be sure.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 7:41 am

Tack cloths are finicky things. Many people use them straight out of the package, but you will need to unfold them, then pull the layers apart so that it's just one layer thick, rather than the 2-4 that they appear to be when first unfolded. Hold it so its a large soft bunch when wiping down a surface.

Brand new ones also will tend to leave a residue of whatever compound that was used in their manufacture to make them sticky. We will condition a tack cloth on our painters overalls, or the masking paper that we use on the car. We will never use a brand new tack cloth on a surface that we are about to paint. Sure recipe for disaster.

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:33 pm

Martin,
I just use my hand after blowing the surface off with my air hose.
(I believe Robbie O'Brien would call it a high tech surface cleaning device.)

My suppliers of surfboard finish coat suggested a hand was better than any tack cloths for surface prep.

Your hand can feel when the surface is clean, does not leave fibres behind snagged on small raised grain and so long as they are clean and dry (usually will be when sanding) won't leave any oils or other substances on the surface.
I have had no finishing issues doing it this way using either hard shellac or nitro.

Cheers
Dom

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